Society Marketing Sessions 2006


The National Marketing events that are the focus of the Society of Exchange Counselors are riding a wave of excellent attendance and productivity. Our most recent meetings in Las Vegas and Denver were again filled with well over 100 members, candidates, and invited guests representing many clients, money, and properties looking to make a successful transaction.
Some very smart people have pessimistically predicted that the Internet would reduce the real estate profession to computer and email transactions. However we appear to be proving them quite wrong. The Society’s Education Foundation has sponsored Creative Real Estate courses around the U. S. in the past few years and has found a steady market for our “people oriented” focus. The Society has existed for over 45 years, and we still find our method of making transactions to be very necessary in whatever environment the real estate industry happens to be in at any time.
The popular book, “The World is Flat,” by Tom Friedman, proposes that there are certain aspects of the Internet world that have given us new tools and things to consider. Some of these are huge advantages especially in communication. One example might be that the wide email distribution of triple net properties and commercial “cookie cutter” types of real estate seems to have leveled out the cap rates around the U.S. It now seems more difficult to find an area that is offering a little better basic return. However, this easy distribution of information also contributes to making investors less “area bound” which opens more opportunities for brokers who work in our large geographical arena of clients and product offerings.
The people, whether they are Owners, Buyers, or Investors, still make the transaction happen. The Society’s counseling skills are never outdated. In fact we need to keep refining them daily. People making decisions still have their likes, dislikes, and motivations that make things happen. The counseling skills of Society members and our marketing events are successfully surviving the test of time and continue to offer new opportunities and ideas.